System for generating travel route to be serviced by primary transportation service and secondary transportation service

ABSTRACT

In one embodiment a pickup location and a destination location associated with a subscriber to a first transportation service are accessed. A first route from the pickup location to the destination location is identified, the first route comprising a plurality of segments, wherein a first segment of the plurality of segments of the first route is to be serviced by a driver of the first transportation service using a first type of transportation vehicle, and wherein a second segment of the plurality of segments of the first route is to be serviced by a second transportation service using a second type of transportation vehicle. The driver of the first transportation service is directed to service the first segment of the plurality of segments of the first route.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This Application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.14/985,580, filed on Dec. 31, 2015 and entitled “SYSTEM FOR GENERATINGTRAVEL ROUTE TO BE SERVICED BY PRIMARY TRANSPORTATION SERVICE ANDSECONDARY TRANSPORTATION SERVICE”, which is hereby incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates in general to the field of mobile applicationsand, more particularly, to a system for generating a travel route to beserviced by a primary transportation service and a secondarytransportation service.

BACKGROUND

A transportation service may utilize a plurality of drivers that fulfillpassenger requests for transportation. A transportation service mayprovide one or more mobile applications that facilitate the efficientpairing of passengers and drivers. The transportation service mayreceive a transportation request and select a driver to fulfill therequest based on information associated with the transportation requestand information associated with the driver.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To provide a more complete understanding of the present disclosure andfeatures and advantages thereof, reference is made to the followingdescription, taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures, whereinlike reference numerals represent like parts, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a system for generating travelroutes to be serviced by a primary transportation service and asecondary transportation service in accordance with certain embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a passenger computing device and adriver computing device of the system of FIG. 1 in accordance withcertain embodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a backend system of the system ofFIG. 1 in accordance with certain embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates a method for generating travel routes to be servicedby a primary transportation service and a secondary transportationservice in accordance with certain embodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates a method for improving suggestions of travel routesto be serviced by a primary transportation service and a secondarytransportation service in accordance with certain embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS Overview

In one embodiment a pickup location and a destination locationassociated with a subscriber to a first transportation service areaccessed. A first route from the pickup location to the destinationlocation is identified, the first route comprising a plurality ofsegments, wherein a first segment of the plurality of segments of thefirst route is to be serviced by a driver of the first transportationservice using a first type of transportation vehicle, and wherein asecond segment of the plurality of segments of the first route is to beserviced by a second transportation service using a second type oftransportation vehicle. The driver of the first transportation serviceis directed to service the first segment of the plurality of segments ofthe first route.

EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a system 100 for generating travelroutes to be serviced by a primary transportation service and asecondary transportation service in accordance with certain embodiments.Although various embodiments may include any number of drivers,passengers, and associated devices, system 100 depicts three passengershaving associated passenger computing devices 104 and two drivers havingassociated driver computing devices 108. The computing devices arecoupled through various networks 120 to an application server 112 and abackend system 116.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure may enhance the experienceof a passenger associated with a transportation service by generating aroute for the passenger that includes at least one segment serviced byone or more drivers of a primary transportation service and at least oneother segment serviced by a second transportation service. Suchembodiments may allow reduction of the cost and/or travel time of theroute for the passenger. As one example, a primary transportationservice may design a route in which a passenger is picked up by a firstdriver associated with the primary transportation service at thepassenger's home and dropped off at a bus or train terminal, rides a busor train to a different terminal, and is then picked up by a seconddriver associated with the primary transportation service andtransported to the passenger's place of business. As another example,the primary transportation service may design a route in which apassenger is picked up by a first driver associated with the primarytransportation service at the passenger's home and dropped off at anairport terminal, takes a flight to another city, and is then picked upby a second driver associated with the primary transportation serviceand transported to the passenger's hotel.

Various embodiments may provide technical advantages such as minimizingcommunications required by a passenger computing device to arrange aroute with multiple transportation segments, more efficient use of fuelor power of transportation vehicles, or other technical advantages.

Computing devices 104 and 108 may include any electronic computingdevice operable to receive, transmit, process, and store any appropriatedata. In various embodiments, computing devices 104 and 108 may bemobile devices or stationary devices. As examples, mobile devices mayinclude laptop computers, tablet computers, smartphones, personaldigital assistants, smartwatches, computers integrated with a vehicle,computers integrated with clothing, and other devices capable ofconnecting (e.g., wirelessly) to one or more networks 120 whilestationary devices may include desktop computers, televisions, or otherdevices that are not easily portable. Devices 104 and 108 may include aset of programs such as operating systems (e.g., Microsoft Windows,Linux, Android, Mac OSX, Apple iOS, UNIX, or similar operating system),applications, plug-ins, applets, virtual machines, machine images,drivers, executable files, and other software-based programs capable ofbeing run, executed, or otherwise used by the respective devices. Eachcomputing device can include at least one graphical display and userinterface allowing a user to view and interact with applications andother programs of the computing device. In a particular embodiment,computing device 108 may be a hardened device that is configured to onlyrun a driver application using a specialized operating system (e.g., amodified version of Android). In one embodiment, a transportationservice may issue or otherwise facilitate the provision of hardeneddevices to its drivers, but restrict the functionality of the devices tothe driver application (i.e., the devices may be locked down so as notto allow the installation of additional applications or may only allowpreapproved applications to be installed).

In various embodiments, a driver computing device 108 may be integratedwithin and/or communicate with a self-driven vehicle (e.g., a vehiclethat has the capability of driving without physical steering guidancefrom a human being) and may influence the movement of the vehicle byproviding route information (e.g., passenger pick-up and destinationlocations driver destination locations, navigational directions, etc.)to the self-driven vehicle. Accordingly, as used herein “driver” mayrefer to a human being that may physically drive or otherwise controlmovement of a vehicle or to the vehicle itself (e.g., in the case of aself-driven vehicle) or component thereof (e.g., computing deviceapplication 108 or logic thereof).

In particular embodiments, a passenger application runs on passengercomputing devices 104. The application may allow a user to enter variousaccount information (e.g., in connection with a registration with thetransportation service) to be utilized by a transportation service. Forexample, the account information may include a user name and password(or other login credentials), contact information of the user (e.g.,phone number, home address), payment information (e.g., credit cardnumbers or bank account numbers and associated information), carpreference information (e.g., what models or color of car the userprefers), or other account information.

The application may allow a user to request a ride from thetransportation service. In various embodiments, the application mayestablish a pick-up location automatically or based on user input (e.g.,locations may include the current location of the computing device 104as determined by a global positioning system (GPS) of the computingdevice or a different user-specified location). In certain embodiments,the user may specify a destination location as well. The locations maybe specified in any suitable format, such as GPS coordinates, streetaddress, establishment name (e.g., LaGuardia Airport, Central Park,etc.), or other suitable format. At any time (e.g., before the ride,during the ride, or after the ride is complete) the user may specify amethod of payment to be used for the ride. The user may also specifywhether the request is for immediate pick-up or for a specified time inthe future. In various embodiments, the user may specify pick-up by avehicle that has particular merchandise available for use by the user,such as a specified type of battery charger, bottle of water or otherfood or beverage, umbrella, or other suitable merchandise. The user mayalso specify criteria for the driver, such as a minimum performancerating, such that drivers having performance ratings below the minimumperformance rating will not be considered during selection of thedriver.

The user may use the application to order a ride based on the specifiedinformation. The request for the ride is generated based on theinformation and transmitted to backend system 116. Backend system 116will facilitate the selection of a driver. In some embodiments, backendsystem 116 may select a driver based on any suitable factors, such asthe information contained in the request from the passenger, theproximity of the driver to the passenger, or other suitable factors. Inother embodiments, backend system 116 may select a plurality of driversthat could fulfill the ride request, send information associated withthe drivers to the passenger, and allow the passenger to select thedriver to be used via the application on the passenger computing device104. Any suitable information about the potential driver(s) may be sentto the computing device 104 either before or after the selection of thedriver by the passenger, such as a location of a driver, an estimatedpick-up time, a type of car used by a driver, the merchandise availablein the car, driver ratings or comments from other passengers about thedriver, or other suitable information.

Once a driver has been selected and has accepted the request to providea ride, the application may notify the user of the selected driver andprovide real-time updates of the driver's location (e.g., with respectto the passenger's location) and estimated pick-up time. The applicationmay also provide contact information for the driver and/or the abilityto contact the driver through the application (e.g., via a phone call ortext). Once the ride has begun, the application may display any suitableinformation, such as the current location of the computing device 104and the route to be taken. Upon completion of the ride, the applicationmay provide the passenger the ability to rate the driver or providecomments about the driver.

In particular embodiments, a driver application runs on driver computingdevices 108. The application may allow a driver to enter various accountinformation to be utilized by a transportation service. For example, theaccount information may include a user name and password (or other logincredentials), contact information of the driver (e.g., phone number,home address), information used to collect payment (e.g., bank accountinformation), vehicle information (e.g., what model or color of car thedriver utilizes), merchandise offered by the driver, or other suitableinformation.

In various embodiments, the application may allow a driver to specifyhis availability to transport passengers for the transportation service.In some embodiments, the driver may select between multiple levels ofavailability. In one example, the driver may be “available,” meaningthat the driver is willing to receive and consider any transportationrequests that the transportation service sends the driver; the drivermay be “unavailable,” meaning that the driver is not willing to receiveany transportation requests (e.g., this state may be explicitlyindicated by the driver inputting this state into his computing deviceor may be detected through a deduction that the driver's computingdevice is not logged in to the transportation service through the driverapplication), or the driver may be “inactive,” meaning that the driveronly desires to receive particular requests meeting certain exceptioncriteria specified by the driver.

The application may periodically transmit the current location of thecomputing device 108 as determined by a GPS of the computing device 108to the backend system 116. When a driver is selected to provide (or isidentified as a suitable candidate for) a ride, backend system 116 maysend a notification to the driver application. In some embodiments, thedriver may have a limited amount of time to select whether the driveraccepts the ride. In other embodiments, the application may beconfigured by the driver to automatically accept the ride or toautomatically accept the ride if certain criteria are met (e.g., fareminimum, direction of travel, minimum passenger rating, etc.).

Once a pairing of the driver and the passenger is confirmed by backendsystem 116, the application may navigate the driver to the passenger.The application may also provide contact information for the passengerand/or the ability to contact the passenger through the application(e.g., via a phone call, email, instant message, or text). Theapplication may also navigate the driver to the passenger's destinationonce the ride begins. Upon completion of the ride, the application mayprovide the driver the ability to rate the passenger or provide commentsabout the passenger.

System 100 may include one or more application servers 112 coupled tothe computing devices through one or more networks 120. The passengerapplication and driver application may be supported with, downloadedfrom, served by, or otherwise provided through an application server 112or other suitable means. In some instances, the applications can bedownloaded from an application storefront onto a particular computingdevice using storefronts such as Google Android Market, Apple App Store,Palm Software Store and App Catalog, RIM App World, etc., or othersources. In various embodiments, the passenger application and driverapplication may be installed on their respective devices in any suitablemanner and at any suitable time. As one example, a passenger applicationmay be installed on a computing device as part of a suite ofapplications that are pre-installed prior to provision of the computingdevice to a consumer. As another example, a driver application may beinstalled on a computing device by a transportation service (or anentity that provisions computing devices for the transportation service)prior to the issuance of the device to a driver that is employed orotherwise associated with the transportation service.

As described above, applications utilized by computing devices 104 and108 can make use of a backend system 116. Backend system 116 maycomprise any suitable servers or other computing devices that facilitatethe provision of a transportation service as described herein. Forexample, backend system 116 may receive a request from a passenger andfacilitate the assignment of a driver to fulfill the request. Backendsystem 116 is described in more detail in connection with FIG. 3.

In general, servers and other computing devices of backend system 116 orapplication server 112 may include electronic computing devices operableto receive, transmit, process, store, or manage data and informationassociated with system 100. As used in this document, the term“computing device,” is intended to encompass any suitable processingdevice. For example, portions of backend system 116 or applicationserver 112 may be implemented using computers other than servers,including server pools. Further, any, all, or some of the computingdevices may be adapted to execute any operating system, including Linux,UNIX, Windows Server, etc., as well as virtual machines adapted tovirtualize execution of a particular operating system, includingcustomized and proprietary operating systems.

Further, servers and other computing devices of system 100 can eachinclude one or more processors, computer-readable memory, and one ormore interfaces, among other features and hardware. Servers can includeany suitable software component or module, or computing device(s)capable of hosting and/or serving a software application or services(e.g., services of application server 112 or backend system 116),including distributed, enterprise, or cloud-based software applications,data, and services. For instance, servers can be configured to host,serve, or otherwise manage data sets, or applications interfacing,coordinating with, or dependent on or used by other services, includingtransportation service applications and software tools. In someinstances, a server, system, subsystem, or computing device can beimplemented as some combination of devices that can be hosted on acommon computing system, server, server pool, or cloud computingenvironment and share computing resources, including shared memory,processors, and interfaces.

In various embodiments, backend system 116 or any components thereof maybe deployed using a cloud service such as Amazon Web Services, MicrosoftAzure, or Google Cloud Platform. For example, the functionality of thebackend system 116 may be provided by virtual machine servers that aredeployed for the purpose of providing such functionality or may beprovided by a service that runs on an existing platform.

System 100 also includes various networks 120 used to communicate databetween the computing devices 104 and 108, the backend system 116, andthe application server 112. The networks 120 described herein may be anysuitable network or combination of one or more networks operating usingone or more suitable networking protocols. A network may represent aseries of points, nodes, or network elements and interconnectedcommunication paths for receiving and transmitting packets ofinformation. For example, a network may include one or more routers,switches, firewalls, security appliances, antivirus servers, or otheruseful network elements. A network may provide a communicative interfacebetween sources and/or hosts, and may comprise any public or privatenetwork, such as a local area network (LAN), wireless local area network(WLAN), metropolitan area network (MAN), Intranet, Extranet, Internet,wide area network (WAN), virtual private network (VPN), cellular network(implementing GSM, CDMA, 3G, 4G, LTE, etc.), or any other appropriatearchitecture or system that facilitates communications in a networkenvironment depending on the network topology. A network can compriseany number of hardware or software elements coupled to (and incommunication with) each other through a communications medium. In someembodiments, a network may simply comprise a transmission medium such asa cable (e.g., an Ethernet cable), air, or other transmission medium.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a passenger computing device 104and a driver computing device 108 of the system of FIG. 1 in accordancewith certain embodiments. Herein, “passenger computing device” may beused to refer to a computing device used by a subscriber or other userwho interacts with the transportation service (e.g., by communicatingwith the transportation service to request transportation) while “drivercomputing device” may be used to refer to a computing device used by adriver of the transportation service. A subscriber may refer to anindividual or entity that has provided account data (e.g., user name,password, payment information, telephone number, home address, otheraccount information, or any suitable combination thereof) to backendsystem 116 for storage by the backend system 116. In the embodimentshown, the devices may be communicatively coupled through network 120 gwhich may include any suitable intermediary nodes, such as a backendsystem 116.

In the embodiment depicted, computing devices 104 and 108 each include acomputer system to facilitate performance of their respectiveoperations. In particular embodiments, a computer system may include aprocessor, storage, and one or more communication interfaces, amongother components. As an example, computing devices 104 and 108 eachinclude one or more processors 202 and 204, memory elements 206 and 208,and communication interfaces 214 and 216, among other hardware andsoftware. These components may work together in order to providefunctionality described herein.

A processors 202 or 204 may be a microprocessor, controller, or anyother suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware,stored software and/or encoded logic operable to provide, either aloneor in conjunction with other components of computing devices 104 and108, the functionality of these computing devices. In particularembodiments, computing devices 104 and 108 may utilize multipleprocessors to perform the functions described herein.

A processor can execute any type of instructions to achieve theoperations detailed in this Specification. In one example, the processorcould transform an element or an article (e.g., data) from one state orthing to another state or thing. In another example, the activitiesoutlined herein may be implemented with fixed logic or programmablelogic (e.g., software/computer instructions executed by the processor)and the elements identified herein could be some type of a programmableprocessor, programmable digital logic (e.g., a field programmable gatearray (FPGA), an erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), anelectrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM)) or an applicationspecific integrated circuit (ASIC) that includes digital logic,software, code, electronic instructions, or any suitable combinationthereof.

Memory 206 and 208 may comprise any form of non-volatile or volatilememory including, without limitation, random access memory (RAM),read-only memory (ROM), magnetic media (e.g., one or more disk or tapedrives), optical media, solid state memory (e.g., flash memory),removable media, or any other suitable local or remote memory componentor components. Memory 206 and 208 may store any suitable data orinformation utilized by computing devices 104 and 108, includingsoftware embedded in a computer readable medium, and/or encoded logicincorporated in hardware or otherwise stored (e.g., firmware). Memory206 and 208 may also store the results and/or intermediate results ofthe various calculations and determinations performed by processors 202and 204.

Communication interfaces 214 and 216 may be used for the communicationof signaling and/or data between computing devices 104 and 108 and oneor more networks (e.g., 120 g) and/or network nodes (e.g., backendsystem 116 and application server 112) coupled to a network or othercommunication channel. For example, communication interfaces 214 and 216may be used to send and receive network traffic such as data packets.Each communication interface 214 and 216 may send and receive dataand/or signals according to a distinct standard such as an LTE, IEEE802.11, IEEE 802.3, or other suitable standard. In various embodiments,any of the data described herein as being communicated between elementsof system 100 may be data generated using voice commands from a user ordata generated independently of voice commands (e.g., data may begenerated by a processor in response to the processor receiving datafrom another element or from an input device such as a touch screen).Communication interfaces 214 and 216 may include antennae and otherhardware for transmitting and receiving radio signals to and from otherdevices in connection with a wireless communication session over one ormore networks 120.

GPS units 210 and 212 may include any suitable hardware and/or softwarefor detecting a location of their respective computing devices 104 and108. For example, a GPS unit may comprise a system that receivesinformation from GPS satellites, wireless or cellular base stations,and/or other suitable source and calculates a location based on thisinformation (or receives a calculated position from a remote source). Inone embodiment, the GPS unit is embodied in a GPS chip.

Passenger application logic 218 may include logic providing, at least inpart, the functionality of the passenger application described herein.Similarly, driver application logic 220 may include logic providing, atleast in part, the functionality of the driver application describedherein. In a particular embodiment, the logic of devices 104 and 108 mayinclude software that is executed by processor 202 and 204. However,“logic” as used in this Specification, may include but not be limited tohardware, firmware, software and/or combinations of each to perform afunction(s) or an action(s), and/or to cause a function or action fromanother logic, method, and/or system. In various embodiments, logic mayinclude a software controlled microprocessor, discrete logic (e.g., anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC)), a programmed logicdevice (e.g., a field programmable gate array (FPGA)), a memory devicecontaining instructions, combinations of logic devices, or the like.Logic may include one or more gates, combinations of gates, or othercircuit components. Logic may also be fully embodied as software.

In various embodiments of the present disclosure, in addition to anycombination of the features described above with respect to thepassenger application, application logic 218 may provide additionalfeatures for the passenger application to enhance a passenger'sexperience with the transportation service.

In various embodiments, passenger application logic 218 may enable aninterface for the passenger to view and interact with informationassociated with routes including segments serviced by multipletransportation services. In a particular embodiment, passengerapplication logic 218 may allow the passenger to indicate a willingnessto consider routes that are serviced by multiple transportationservices. The passenger may also use passenger application logic 218 tosubmit transportation requests for such routes.

Passenger application logic 218 may also provide functionality enablingthe passenger to specify one or more constraints (to be discussed inmore detail below) that should be applied by the backend system 116 whendetermining which routes may be preferable to the passenger. Passengerapplication logic 218 may also allow the passenger to view one or moreroutes from a pickup location specified by the passenger to adestination location specified by the passenger and select a route for atransportation request. Passenger application logic 218 may provideadditional functionality described below in connection with the backendsystem.

In a particular embodiment, a user may supply login credentials for asocial network system (e.g., FACEBOOK) or other social media system(e.g., TWITTER) to the transportation service through passengerapplication logic 218. The transportation service (e.g., through backendserver) may then access the user's account on the social network systemor other social media system and access information associated with theuser's account. As another example, passenger application logic 218 mayaccess the user's social media account directly and integrateinformation from the account with other functionality of the passengerapplication logic.

Social network application logic 222 may provide a user interface toallow a passenger to interact with (e.g., enter and transmit informationto and view information received from) a social network system. A socialnetwork system may store a record (i.e., a user profile) for each userof the system. The user profile may include any suitable informationabout the user, such as contact information, employment information,demographic information, personal interests, user-generated content, orother suitable information. The social network system may also store arecord of the user's relationship with other users of the social networksystem. For example, such information may be stored as a social graph,wherein users (e.g., individuals, groups, business entities,organizations, etc.) may be represented as nodes in the graph and thenodes may be connected based on relationships between the users. Asocial network system may provide various services (e.g., photo sharing,wall posts, messaging, games, or advertisements) facilitatinginteraction between the users.

In various embodiments, the social network system may interact withpassenger application logic 218 or backend system 116 to enhance thefunctionality of these components. As an example, background informationassociated with a passenger may be obtained by a backend system 116 andused to determine whether to route a request from the passenger to aparticular driver.

In various embodiments, the social network system may provide any of thefunctionality listed above with respect to passenger application logic218 in allowing a user to request a ride and may relay received requestsfor rides to backend system 116 along with any suitable identifyinginformation about the user to facilitate pickup by a driver.

Email application logic 224 may provide an interface for the passengerto read, draft, and/or manage emails. Email application logic 224 maycomprise a traditional email client (e.g., Microsoft Outlook or a nativeiOS or Android mail application) or a web-based email application (e.g.,a web browser or other application operable to access Outlook.com,Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, or other web-based email service).

Calendar application logic 226 may provide an interface for thepassenger to read, draft, and/or manage calendar appointments andrelated tasks. Calendar application logic 226 may comprise a traditionalcalendar client (e.g., Microsoft Outlook or a native iOS or Androidcalendar application) or a web-based calendar application (e.g., a webbrowser or other application operable to access Outlook.com, GoogleCalendar, or other web-based calendar service).

Search engine application logic 228 may provide an interface for thepassenger to perform Internet keyword searches. In various embodiments,logic 228 is operable to receive input forming a keyword search. In someembodiments, logic 228 may also perform the keyword search bytransmitting the search to one or more servers operable to perform thesearch and provide search results back to logic 228. In otherembodiments, logic 228 may communicate the input to another applicationto perform the keyword search. In various embodiments, logic 228 maypresent the search results to the passenger via any suitable interface(e.g., a visual or audio interface). In various embodiments, logic 228may comprise a web browser or other application.

Device assistant logic 230 may comprise logic to enhance thefunctionality of other applications of passenger computing device 104.In particular embodiments, device assistant logic 230 may comprise anintelligent personal assistant, such as Siri, Cortana, Google Now, orsimilar assistant. In various embodiment, device assistant logic 230 maymonitor activity of the passenger computing device 104, including anoperating system or one or more applications of passenger computingdevice 104. For example, device assistant logic 230 may access emails,instant messages, or text messages sent by, received by, or accessibleby email application logic 224 or other logic of passenger computingdevice 104. As another example, device assistant logic 224 may accesscalendar appointments available through calendar application logic 226(which may be stored in a calendar file stored by passenger computingdevice 104 or on a remote server). As another example, device assistantlogic 224 may access search queries made through search engineapplication logic 228. As another example, device assistant logic 224may access transportation requests made through passenger applicationlogic 218 or detect when passenger application logic 218 is opened. Asanother example, device assistant logic 230 may access the location ofpassenger computing device 104 using data determined by globalpositioning system 210.

In various embodiments, device assistant logic 230 may enhance the userexperience of the passenger by answering questions from the passenger,making recommendations to the passenger, and performing other actions,such as drafting emails, texts, or calendar appointments. In addition toanswering questions explicitly asked by the passenger, device assistantlogic 230 may proactively obtain information and present the informationto the passenger. In various embodiments, the proactive presentation ofinformation is based upon previous user activity with respect topassenger computing device 104. For example, device assistant logic 230may present or direct the presentation of (e.g., within a web browser)the status of a flight reservation or other travel reservation that thepassenger booked or accessed using a web browser of the passengercomputing device 104 or for which a confirmation email was received viaemail application logic 224. As other examples, device assistant logic230 may direct the presentation of hotel or restaurant reservations,weather information, sporting event information, package trackinginformation, local movie times, stock prices, news events, or otherinformation based on the passenger's location, emails, calendarappointments, search or browsing history, or other activity.

Device assistant logic 230 may also use information obtained from theoperating system or applications of passenger computing device 104 toenhance the user experience of the passenger with respect to thetransportation service. For example, information obtained by the deviceassistant logic 230 may be used to predict whether the passenger willsubmit a transportation request to the transportation service and thebackend system 116 may proactively send drivers closer to passengersthat are likely to submit transportation requests. In variousembodiments, device assistant logic 230 may communicate device activitydata (which may include at least a subset of the gathered information orother information obtained by processing at least a subset of thegathered information) directly to a server of backend system 116controlled by the transportation service. In other embodiments, deviceassistant logic 230 may communicate activity information to a thirdparty server controlled by, for example, the provider of the deviceassistant logic (e.g., Google, Apple, Microsoft, etc.), which may thencommunicate the device activity data (or a subset thereof) to a serverof backend system 116 controlled by the transportation service. In yetother embodiments, device assistant logic 230 may communicate deviceactivity data with passenger application logic 218 which may thencommunicate device activity data (or a subset thereof) to the backendsystem 116.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a backend system 116 of the systemof FIG. 1 in accordance with certain embodiments. Although FIG. 3depicts a particular implementation of the backend system 116, thebackend system may include any suitable devices to facilitate theoperation of the transportation service described herein. In theembodiment depicted, backend system includes backend server 302, datastore 304, and third party services 306 coupled together by network 120h. In various embodiments, backend server 302, data store 304, and/orthird party services 306 may each comprise one or more physical devices(e.g., servers or other computing devices) providing the functionalitydescribed herein. In some embodiments, one or more of backend server302, data store 304, and third party services 306 (or portions thereof)are deployed using a cloud service and may comprise one or more virtualmachines or containers. In a particular embodiment, backend server 302and data store 304 are controlled by the transportation service, whilethird party services 306 are controlled by a third party entity.

In the embodiment depicted, backend server 302 includes a computersystem to facilitate performance of its operations. As an example,backend server 302 includes one or more processors 308, memory elements310, and communication interfaces 312, among other hardware andsoftware. These components may work together in order to provide backendserver functionality described herein. Processor 308 may have anysuitable characteristics of the processors 202 and 204 described above.In particular embodiments, backend server 302 may utilize multipleprocessors to perform the functions described herein. In variousembodiments, reference to a processor may refer to multiple discreteprocessors communicatively coupled together.

Similarly, memory 310 may have any suitable characteristics of memories206 and 208 described above. Memory 310 may store any suitable data orinformation utilized by backend server 302, including software embeddedin a computer readable medium, and/or encoded logic incorporated inhardware or otherwise stored (e.g., firmware). Memory 310 may also storethe results and/or intermediate results of the various calculations anddeterminations performed by processor 308.

Communication interface 312 may also have any suitable characteristicsof communication interfaces 214 and 216 described above. Communicationinterfaces 312 may be used for the communication of signaling and/ordata between backend server 302 and one or more networks (e.g., networks120) and/or network nodes (e.g., computing devices 104 and 108, datastore 304, third party services 306, and application server 112) coupledto a network or other communication channel.

Business logic 314 may have any suitable characteristics of applicationlogic 218 and 220 described above. Business logic 314 may include logicproviding, at least in part, the functionality of the backend serverdescribed herein. In a particular embodiment, business logic 314 mayinclude software that is executed by processor 308. However, in otherembodiments, business logic 314 may take other forms such as thosedescribed above with respect to application logic 218 and 220.

Backend server 302 may communicate with data store 304 to initiatestorage and retrieval of data related to the transportation service.Data store 304, may store any suitable data associated with thetransportation service in any suitable format(s). For example, datastore 304 may include one or more database management systems (DBMS),such as SQL Server, Oracle, Sybase, IBM DB2, or NoSQL data bases (e.g.,Redis and MongoDB). Data store 304 may be located on one or morecomputing devices that are distinct from backend server 302 or on thesame device as at least a portion of backend server 302. Any of theinformation stored by data store 304 could additionally or alternativelybe stored locally in memory 310 temporarily or persistently.

In the embodiment depicted, data store 304 includes passenger accountdata 316, passenger device activity data 317, driver account data 318,transportation request data 320, driver availability data 322,navigational data 324, historical request data 326, and secondarytransportation service data 327. The various data may be updated at anysuitable intervals.

Passenger account data 316 may include any suitable informationassociated with accounts of subscribers to the transportation service,such as contact information (e.g., real names and addresses), user namesand passwords (or other authentication information), payment information(e.g., credit card or bank account numbers and associated information),passenger preferences (e.g., preferred type or color of car), ratingsthe passenger has given drivers, ratings the passenger has received fromdrivers, or other information associated with passenger profiles. Inparticular embodiments, passenger account data 316 of a passenger mayinclude a record of one or more constraints to be used in selectingroutes for the passenger.

Passenger device activity data 317 may comprise activity informationreceived from passenger computing devices 104 (e.g., via passengerapplication logic 218, device assistant logic 230, or from a third partyservice), such as search queries, browsing history, calendarappointments, emails, text messages, instant messages, location data,other activity information, and/or information derived therefrom. Suchactivity information may include a record of the commute times andlocations of the passenger (e.g., as obtained from GPS 210 of thedevice); flight reservations, train reservations, or othertransportation reservations made or used by the passenger; calendarappointments or other written communications (e.g., emails, textmessages, instant messages) specifying travel or meetings requiringtravel by the passenger; web searches for local points of interest; orother suitable activities. For any suitable activity data, passengerdevice activity data 317 may also comprise indications of whetherparticular activity data resulted in the generation of a transportationrequest and if so, the particular details of the transportation requestor a link to the transportation request in historical request data 326(to be explained in further detail below). In various embodiments,passenger device activity data 317 may also comprise statisticscorrelating particular activity data of passengers with transportationrequests made by the passengers. For example, passenger device activitydata 317 may include statistics indicating how likely one or moreparticular types of activity data are to result in the generation of atransportation request by the passenger. As another example, passengerdevice activity data 317 may include statistics indicating when the useris most likely to generate a transportation request in connection withone or more particular activities. In some embodiments, passenger deviceactivity data 317 may include a series of likelihoods that the passengerwill generate a request as a function of time (e.g., around a timespecified by the activity data, such as a flight time or a commute starttime).

Driver account data 318 may include any suitable information associatedwith driver accounts, such as contact information (e.g., real names andaddresses), user names and passwords (or other authenticationinformation), payment collection information (e.g., bank accountinformation), vehicle information (e.g., models and colors of cars thedrivers utilize, maximum capacity of the cars of the drivers),merchandise offered by the drivers, whether the drivers are available totransport passengers, whether the drivers have opted for automaticacceptance of transportation requests (whereby the backend server 302may assign a transportation request to the driver without waiting forthe driver to indicate acceptance of a request), or other suitableinformation.

Transportation request data 320 may comprise pending requests (i.e.,requests that have not yet been fulfilled) received from passengers.Each request may include any suitable information, such as anycombination of one or more of an identification of the passenger makingthe request, the time the request was made, the current location of thepassenger, the desired pick-up location, the desired pick-up time, theestimated time remaining until a driver can pick up the passenger, theactual pick-up time, the desired destination location of the passenger(which the passenger may or may not provide at the time the request ismade), the expected arrival time at the destination location, the typeof vehicle requested, estimated fare for the trip, current accumulatedfare for the trip, estimated time and mileage remaining in the trip,other information specified by the user (e.g., requested merchandise,requested minimum rating of driver), whether a driver has been assignedto a request, and which driver has been assigned to a request.

Driver availability data 322 may comprise information associated withdrivers that are available to transport passengers. In some embodiments,driver availability data 322 may also comprise information associatedwith drivers that are not available to transport passengers (e.g.,because they are off-duty or currently transporting a passenger). Anentry in the driver availability data 322 may include an identificationof a driver and any suitable associated information, such as one or moreof a current location of the driver, whether the driver is available totransport passengers, whether the driver is currently transporting apassenger, a destination location of a current trip of the driver, anestimate of how long it will be before the driver finishes his currenttrip, whether the driver has opted for automatic acceptance oftransportation requests, or other suitable information.

Navigational data 324 may comprise information supporting navigationfunctions provided by the passenger applications and driver passengerapplications. For example, navigational data 324 may comprise map datathat may be sent to passenger computing devices 104 and driver computingdevices 108 to allow the devices to display maps and associatedindicators (e.g., location of passenger(s), location of driver(s),desired routes, etc.). In some embodiments, the navigational data mayalso comprise information indicative of the amount of time required totravel between various locations. In some embodiments, navigational data324 may comprise historic and/or real time data about the flow oftraffic in particular areas enabling backend server 302 to calculate anestimated time required to travel from one location to another.

Historical request data 326 may comprise information about completedrequests. In some embodiments, historical request data 326 may alsoinclude information about canceled requests. The information for eachrequest may include any combination of the information listed above withrespect to requests stored in the transportation request data 320 aswell as any combination of additional data such as the time at which thedestination location was reached, the total time of the trip, the totalfare, a rating given by the passenger to the driver or by the driver tothe passenger for the trip, or other suitable information associatedwith the trip.

Secondary transportation service data 327 may include informationobtained from computing devices of one or more transportation services.In particular embodiments, secondary transportation service data 327 maybe obtained by connecting to a computing device of anothertransportation device, such as a server hosting a webpage or other filecontaining secondary transportation service information, a serverproviding an API through which backend server 302 may request secondarytransport service information from the server, or one or more othercomputing devices storing secondary transportation service information.Secondary transportation service data 327 may include any suitableinformation, such as locations of terminals of other transport services,indications of types of transport vehicles used by the other transportservices, indications of particular transport vehicles used by the othertransport services, schedules for particular transport vehicles used bythe other transport services (e.g., the schedules may indicate the timesat which a particular transportation vehicle is scheduled to stop at anynumber of terminals), reliability and/or punctuality informationassociated with particular transport vehicles, prices for traveling onthe transportation vehicles of the other transport services, ticketavailability for particular vehicles, walking distances betweenautomobile drop off points and locations at the terminals at whichvehicles can be boarded, current locations of particular transportvehicles (e.g., as measured by GPS) or other suitable informationassociated with the other transport services.

In various embodiments, backend server 302 may access third partyservices 306 through business logic 328 to access data 330. Third partyservices 306 may represent any suitable number of devices operated byany suitable number of third parties that are distinct from an entitythat operates the backend system 116 and/or data store 304. For example,in some embodiments the navigational data may be obtained from a thirdparty service 306 rather than data store 304, or additional third partynavigational data such as map data or historical and/or current trafficflow information may be used to supplement navigational data 324. Asanother example, third party services 306 may authenticate users onbehalf of the backend server 302 (e.g., through an account of the userwith the third party). Business logic 328 may comprise any suitablelogic operable to receive requests for data from backend system 116and/or computing devices 104 and 108 and provide responses to therequests.

Backend server 302 may be in communication with each passenger computingdevice 104 and each driver computing device 108 that is utilizing thetransportation service at a particular time. Backend server may storeinformation received from the computing devices 104 and 108 in datastore 304. Backend server 302 may also receive and respond to requestsmade by computing devices 104 and 108 by processing informationretrieved from data store 304.

When a passenger opens the passenger application, the backend server 302may log the passenger in based on a comparison of authenticationinformation provided by the passenger computing device 104 withauthentication information stored in passenger account data 316. Thepassenger may then request a ride. The request is received by thebackend server 302 and stored in transportation request data 320.Backend server 302 may access driver availability data 322 to determineone or more drivers that would be suitable to fulfill the request fromthe passenger. In one embodiment, backend server 302 selects aparticular driver (e.g., based on the driver's locality with respect tothe passenger's pick-up location) and sends information associated withthe request to the driver. The driver indicates whether he accepts orrejects the request via his computing device 108. If the driver rejectsthe request, backend server 302 selects a different driver and theprocess is repeated until the backend server 302 receives an acceptedrequest from a driver. In another embodiment, backend server 302 mayselect a plurality of drivers that may fulfill a transportation requestand allow the passenger to select one of the drivers. The backend server302 may proceed to notify the driver of the request in a similar mannerto that described above. In yet another embodiment, backend server 302may select a plurality of drivers that may fulfill a transportationrequest and notify each driver of the transportation request. Thebackend server 302 may then allocate the request to one of the driversbased on any suitable criteria. For example, the driver who is the firstto accept the request may be assigned to the request. As anotherexample, if multiple drivers accept the request within a giventimeframe, the request may be assigned to the most suitable driver(e.g., the driver that is closest to the pick-up location or a driverthat has a car that meets preferred characteristics of thetransportation request).

Once the request has been accepted by a driver, the backend server 302notifies the passenger that a driver has accepted his request andprovides any suitable information associated with the driver (e.g.,driver's current location, model and color of vehicle, estimated time ofarrival, etc.) to the passenger.

The backend server 302 may provide navigation information (e.g., thepassenger's current location or other pickup location and directions tothe current location or other pickup location) to the driver computingdevice 108 to direct the driver to the passenger's pickup location andsubsequently to direct the driver to the passenger's destinationlocation. The backend server 302 may also provide real-time updatesassociated with the trip to both the passenger and the driver.

Once the passenger's destination location has been reached, the backendserver 302 may facilitate payment of the fare for the trip using paymentinformation stored in passenger account data 316 and/or driver accountdata 318 (or information supplied by the passenger at the time of thetransaction). The backend server 302 may also receive ratings associatedwith the trip for the passenger and driver and store these ratings indata store 304.

In various embodiments, backend server 302 may create routes from apickup location to a destination location that include segments frommultiple different transportation services, including the transportationservice that controls backend server 302. Hereinafter, thetransportation service that controls backend server 302 to navigatedrivers to passengers is referred to as a primary transportation servicewhile other transportation services that may service segments of theroutes are referred to as secondary transportation services.

In a particular embodiment, the primary transportation servicefacilitates the transportation of passengers using a type oftransportation vehicle that is different from a type of transportationvehicle used by a secondary transportation service to transportpassengers. Any suitable types of transportation vehicles may be used byany of the transportation services. In one embodiment, the primarytransportation service uses cars to transport passengers. The term“cars” may encompass automobiles such as coupes, hatchbacks, stationwagons, sedans, convertibles, crossovers, sport utility vehicles,minivans, suburbans, passenger vans, pickup trucks, or other smallautomobiles. In various embodiments, the secondary transportationservice may use other types of transportation vehicles to transportpassengers, such as buses, trains (e.g., above ground or subway),airplanes, helicopters, boats, or other land, air, or water vehicles. Invarious embodiments, each secondary transportation service is controlledby an entity that is distinct from an entity that controls the primarytransportation service. In some embodiments, a secondary transportationservice may be a public transportation service controlled by a publicentity, such as a city government or other governmental entity. Ingeneral, a public transportation service allows anyone buying a ticketto ride transportation vehicles controlled by the public transportationservice without requiring the passenger to create an account with thepublic transportation service (though in some cases the passenger maycreate an account for ease of use). In some embodiments, a secondarytransportation service may have a plurality of terminals (e.g., ports,airports, bus stops, train stops, etc.) at which transport vehicles ofthe secondary transportation service stop to drop off and/or pick uppassengers. Some terminals may also have machines which accept paymentfor the fare required to ride a transportation vehicle and dispensetickets, add money to a card, or otherwise authorize the passenger for aride on the transportation vehicle associated with the secondaryservice.

Backend server 302 may generate routes each having any suitable numberof segments that may be serviced by any number of the transportationservices. In general, the primary transportation service sends a driverto service at least one of the segments in each route. As just oneexample, a route may consist of three segments: 1) a segment from thepassenger's home to a first terminal (such as a bus stop or subwayterminal) associated with a secondary transportation service (thissegment may be serviced by a first driver of the primary transportationservice), 2) a segment from the first terminal to a second terminal ofthe secondary transportation service (this segment may be serviced bythe secondary transportation service), and 3) a segment from the secondterminal to the passenger's workplace (this segment may be serviced by asecond driver of the primary transportation service). Any segment may beserviced by any of the transportation services. Alternatively, a segmentmay be traveled by the passenger using alternate means oftransportation, such as walking or riding a bicycle, moped, motorcycle,or other means of transportation. The segments of a route may beserviced by the transportation services in any suitable order. Forexample, the primary transportation service may service the firstsegment of a route and a secondary transportation service may servicethe second segment of a route or vice versa.

In various embodiments, backend server 302 may receive a transportationrequest from a passenger that includes an indication that the passengerdesires (or at least is willing to consider) a route that includessegments serviced by multiple different transportation services. Inother embodiments, the indication may be sent in a separatecommunication.

In some embodiments, the indication may be sent to the backend server302 by the passenger prior to the sending of the transportation request.For example, the passenger may request to see possible routes between aspecified pickup location and a destination location prior to selectinga route and submitting a transportation request. In another example, thepassenger may indicate in a setting associated with the passenger'saccount that the passenger is willing to use routes having segmentsserved by multiple transportation services. As yet another example,backend server 302 may infer based on previous transportation requestsutilizing routes having segments served by multiple transportationservices, that the user is willing to view such routes in associatedwith future transportation requests.

In some embodiments, the indication is sent by the passenger to thebackend server 302 after the transportation request is sent to thebackend server. For example, an initial transportation requestspecifying a pickup location and a destination location for service fromthe primary transportation service may be sent to the backend server 302and the backend server 302 may respond with a query as to whether thepassenger would like to consider a route having segments serviced bymultiple transportation services. In some embodiments, the backendserver may send a similar query after the ride has begun. For example,the backend server 302 may detect (e.g., based on information in thetransportation request or through device activity data of the user) thatthe driver will not be able to make it to an event (which may bedetected from the device activity data of the user) on time and maysuggest a faster alternative route with a segment serviced by asecondary transportation service.

In some embodiments, the backend server 302 may generate a route withsegments to be serviced by multiple transportation services and send theroute to the passenger without receiving an explicit indication from thepassenger that the passenger desires to consider such routes. Forexample, the backend server 302 may analyze previous transportationrequests and/or device activity data of the passenger and determine thatthe passenger has traveled one or more routes that included segmentsfrom multiple transportation services. In such an instance, thepassenger may have ordered one or more segments of a route from theprimary transportation company, but did not select the entire route fromthe transportation company (e.g., the passenger may have determined theroute on his own). From such a deduction, the backend server may inferthat the passenger is amenable to receiving a suggestion of thatparticular route or more generally interested in routes having segmentsserved by multiple transportation services and may generate and presentsuch routes accordingly.

The backend server 302 may perform any suitable analysis to determinethat the passenger traveled a route with one or more segments servicedby a secondary transportation service. For example, backend server 302may compare pickup and destination locations of the transportationrequests the passenger submitted to the backend server 302 with knownlocations of terminals of the secondary transportation services todetermine whether the passenger had traveled to or from one of theterminals. Alternatively or in addition, if the backend server 302 or anassociated server (e.g., a server controlled by a third party that sendsthe backend server 302 device activity data of passengers) has access tolocation data of the passenger computing device, the location data maybe compared with known locations of the terminals and/or routes ofparticular transportation vehicles of the secondary transportationservice to determine whether the passenger was at a particular terminalor rode a particular transportation vehicle (e.g., the 5:00 train or abus on a particular route). Any suitable location data may be analyzedand used in determining whether the passenger traveled a segment usingthe secondary transportation service, such as GPS coordinates, travelspeeds (e.g., travel speeds may be compared against travel speeds oftransportation vehicles of one or more secondary services), timeintervals in which location data is missing (e.g., missing data mayindicate travel through areas with bad service, such as a tunnel), orother suitable location data. In determining whether the location datacorresponds to usage of a secondary transportation service, any suitableinformation associated with the secondary transportation service may beaccessed, such as terminal locations, travel schedules associated withone or more terminals and/or transportation vehicles of the secondarytransportation service, actual or expected speeds of travel oftransportation vehicles of the secondary transportation service, orother suitable information.

The backend server 302 may receive a transportation request specifying apickup location and a destination location and associate the requestwith a route comprising segments serviced by the primary transportationservice and at least one secondary transportation service. In variousembodiments, the route may be included in the transportation requestsent from a passenger to the backend server. For example, the passengermay specify a pickup location and destination location using passengerapplication logic 218. The backend server 302 may then send one or moreroutes to the passenger and passenger may select a route and submit thetransportation request with the selected route to the backend server302. As another example, backend server 302 may detect a highprobability that the passenger will be submitting a transportationrequest in the near future (e.g., based on previous transportationrequests submitted by the passenger and/or device activity data of thepassenger) and may suggest one or more routes that each have segments tobe serviced by the primary transportation service and at least onesecondary transportation service. When the user accepts one of theroutes, a transportation request may including the selected route may begenerated and sent to backend server 302. In other embodiments, theroute may be generated after the transportation request is sent to thebackend server and may be associated with the transportation request atany suitable time, such as when the user accepts the route. For example,the passenger may submit a transportation request for a driver totransport the passenger from a pickup location to a destinationlocation. The backend server 302 may respond with a suggestion for oneor more routes having segments served by the primary transportationservice and at least one secondary transportation service. The passengermay select a route and indicate the selection to the backend server 302,which then associates the route with the transportation request. Asanother example, a transportation request may be submitted and thepassenger may be picked up before one or more routes having segmentsserviced by a secondary transportation service are generated (e.g., inresponse to an indication from the passenger or a determination that thepassenger may benefit from such a route). In other embodiments, a routemay be associated with a transportation request at any suitable time.

A passenger may be associated with one or more constraints that provideguidance for selecting routes for the passenger. In various embodiments,the passenger may explicitly specify the constraints, the constraintsmay be specified by default settings stored by passenger applicationlogic 218, or the constraints may be default settings stored inpassenger account data 316 accessible to the backend server in a profileof the passenger. In particular embodiments, one or more constraints maybe inferred based on previous transportation requests and/or deviceactivity data. For example, backend server 302 may determine fromprevious routes selected via the primary transportation service and/ortaken without selecting via the primary transportation service, that thepassenger has a preference for routes with minimum cost, minimum traveltime, a certain type of transportation vehicle or an actualtransportation vehicle (e.g., a train on the green line that departs aparticular location at 8:00 AM), or any other suitable preference (suchas other constraints listed below). As another example, backend server302 may determine from device activity data that the passenger isscheduled to ride a vehicle associated with a secondary transportationservice at a particular time (e.g., backend server 302 may detect aflight reservation of the passenger).

In various embodiments, one or more constraints may apply generally toany route presented to the passenger or one or more constraints may bespecific to a particular transportation request and the prospectiveroutes that are generated in connection with that transportationrequest.

Any suitable constraints may be specified. In various embodiments, oneor more of the constraints may be absolute constraints. If a route doesnot match the applicable absolute constraints, the route is notpresented to the passenger as a prospective route. Any suitable absoluteconstraint may be specified by the passenger and/or primarytransportation service and applied to a route search to filter outnon-desirable routes. In various embodiments, one or more of theconstraints may be optimization constraints. An optimization constraintexpresses a preference for one or more route characteristics and may beused to select and/or order routes.

One example of an absolute constraint is an explicit specification of asegment of the route to be used. For example, the constraint may specifyinformation about a secondary transportation service that the passengeris to use for one or more segments of the route. For example, theconstraint may specify, a particular transportation service, aparticular vehicle of the transportation service (e.g., a bus on the 802route, or a green line subway train), a pickup location at which thepassenger desires to board the transportation vehicle, a time at whichthe passenger desires to board the transportation vehicle, a destinationlocation at which the passenger desires to get off of the vehicle, atime at which the passenger desires to get off the vehicle, othersuitable information associated with the secondary transportationservice or its vehicle, or any combination thereof.

Other examples of absolute constraints include an arrival timeassociated with the destination location (e.g., a constraint that theroute must deliver the passenger to the destination location at orbefore the arrival time), a maximum cost, a maximum amount of traveltime, a minimum time per unit of cost value, a maximum amount of walkingdistance required by the route (e.g., a total maximum walking distancefor the entire route or a maximum walking distance between intermediatelocations of the route), a maximum number of transfers betweentransportation vehicles, and a maximum waiting time at transfers (e.g.,at a particular transfer or in aggregate).

Examples of optimization constraints include preferences for aparticular type of transportation vehicle (e.g., car, bus, train, etc.)or characteristic associated with the transportation vehicle, aparticular transportation service, minimum cost, minimum travel time,minimum time/cost value, minimum walking distance, minimum number oftransfers, and a minimum waiting time at transfers. In variousembodiments, the optimization constraints may be ranked in order ofimportance and/or weighted. For example, minimum cost may be ranked asthe most important and minimum travel time as the second most importantoptimization constraints. As another example, minimum cost may be givena weight of 8 on a scale of 1 to 10, while minimum travel time may begiven a weight of 2.

The backend server 302 generates one or more routes based on a pickuplocation (which could be the current location of the passenger if theride has already started) and destination location specified by apassenger (or inferred from previous transportation requests and/ordevice activity data). The routes may be presented to the passenger forselection of a route by the passenger or a route may be selected by thebackend server 302. The selected route may be conveyed to the passengerand one or more drivers of the primary transportation service that areselected to service one or more segments of the selected route.

In particular embodiments, backend server 302 accesses one or moreelectronic data sources associated with one or more secondarytransportation services to gather information to generate the routes. Anelectronic data source associated with a secondary transportationservice may comprise a server hosting a webpage or other file containingsecondary transportation service information, a server providing an APIthrough which backend server 302 may request secondary transport serviceinformation from the server, or one or more other computing devicesstoring secondary transportation service information. In variousembodiments, the electronic data source may be controlled (e.g., ownedor maintained) by the secondary transportation service. In someembodiments, the electronic data source (e.g., backend server 302 ordata store 304) may be controlled by the primary transportation serviceand comprise information obtained from one or more computing devicescontrolled by one or more secondary transportation services.

Any suitable secondary transportation service information may be storedby the electronic data source and used in the generation of the variousroutes. For example, the transportation service information may includelocations of terminals of a secondary transport service, indications oftypes of transport vehicles used by the secondary transport service,indications of particular transport vehicles used by the secondarytransport service, schedules for particular transport vehicles used bythe secondary transport service (e.g., the schedules may indicate thetimes at which a particular transportation vehicle is scheduled to stopat any number of terminals), reliability and/or punctuality informationassociated with particular transport vehicles, prices for traveling onthe transportation vehicles of the secondary transport service, ticketavailability for particular vehicles, walking distances betweenautomobile drop off points and locations at the terminals at whichvehicles can be boarded, or other suitable information associated withthe secondary transportation service.

In various embodiments, the one or more routes generated and/or selectedare based on one or more absolute constraints and/or optimizationconstraints associated with the passenger and/or the particulartransportation request. The constraints may be applied against variouspossible routes between the pickup location and the destination locationto determine segments that may be serviced by the primary transportationcompany (optionally including selection of the specific driver(s)) andsegments that should be serviced by a secondary transportation company(optionally including selection of the particular vehicles and/orterminals to be used). In applying the constraints against the possibleroutes, the backend server 302 may make use of any of the secondarytransportation service information (e.g., secondary transportationservice data 327 or externally stored secondary transportation serviceinformation) or any of the other information that backend server hasavailable to it, such as transportation request data 320, driveravailability data 322, navigational data 324, historical request data326, or data regarding current traffic and/or weather conditions. Suchdata may enable backend server 302 to determine cost, travel times,waiting periods, or other characteristics associated with services thatcan be provided by the primary transportation service and one or moresecondary transportation services in connection with the generatedroutes such that characteristics of the routes and segments thereof maybe compared against and/or sorted by the constraints and ranks orweights associated with the constraints (if applicable).

In various embodiments, in response to a selection of a route or uponauthorization from a passenger, backend server 302 may purchase a ticketfor a transportation vehicle of a secondary transportation service onthe passenger's behalf and make the ticket available to the passenger(e.g., by printing the ticket or sending information associated with theticket to the passenger computing device 104). In alternativeembodiments, passenger application logic 218 may interface with a ticketpurchasing system of the secondary transportation service (directly orthrough backend server 302) thus allowing the passenger to purchase aticket for a transportation vehicle of the secondary transportationservice through application logic 218. In some embodiments, thepassenger application logic 218 may (e.g., without requiring passengerinput with respect to the secondary transportations service's ticketinginterface) place a ticket for a segment of the route serviced by thesecondary transportation service into a shopping cart of the passenger.In various embodiments, funds for the ticket are provided by the primarytransportation service and the amount paid for the ticket is added on toa single bill for the route given to the passenger by the primarytransportation service that also includes charges for any segments ofthe route serviced by the primary transportation service.

When one or more routes are presented to the passenger, any suitableinformation associated with the routes may be presented, such as anidentification of which transportation service will be servicing thevarious segments, a pickup location and destination location of eachsegment, a cost of each segment, a total cost, an estimated travel timeof each segment, an estimated total travel time, a time per unit cost ofthe route, an arrival time associated with the destination location ofthe route, a distance of each segment, a total distance, a requiredwalking distance, any other information associated with the route or asegment thereof (e.g., any of the information described above which maybe used in constraint), or any suitable combination thereof. Thepresentation of the routes may be presented to the passenger in an orderbased on the routes' conformity to the constraints (and ranking/orderingif provided).

In various embodiments if one or more absolute constraints cannot be metby any of the routes, the presentation of the routes may include amessage stating such. Also, if a particular route does not meet one ofthe absolute constraints (or has a high likelihood that it will not meetone of the absolute constraints), then the route may be presented to thepassenger along with a message with details associated with theconstraint.

During the selection of routes, the backend server 302 may determine thedegree of probability that a passenger may safely make a transfer fromone transportation vehicle to another transportation vehicle anddisregard routes that have an unacceptably high probability that thepassenger will miss the connection. In particular embodiments, duringsuch determinations, the backend server 302 may factor in any time thatmay be associated with the transfer, such as a time for walking from adrop-off point to a pickup location for the next vehicle, time forpurchasing a ticket for the next vehicle, or other suitable time.

During the servicing of the transportation request, backend server 302may monitor conditions associated with the transportation request atsuitable intervals (e.g., periodic) and update any suitable informationpresented to the drivers and/or passenger, such as expected pickup anddrop-off times for each segment, an expected destination arrival time,an expected total cost of the trip or one or more segments, remainingtravel time, or other suitable information. Any suitable conditions maybe monitored such as any of the information used to select the route. Asexamples, the location of one or more drivers of the primarytransportation service currently servicing or scheduled to service asegment or conditions expected to affect travel time (e.g., weather,traffic) may be monitored. In addition, conditions associated withsecondary transportation services may be monitored, such as a currentlocation of a particular vehicle or whether a particular vehicle isrunning early, on time, or late with respect to the expected schedule.In one embodiment, conditions known to the backend server 302 regardingtravel time for automobile traffic (e.g., heavy traffic conditions) maybe applied to an expected travel time for a bus or other land vehicle ofa secondary transportation service (which could be based on a scheduleand/or the current location of the vehicle) to estimate the actualtravel time of the bus or other vehicle.

In various embodiments, if the conditions indicate that a transfer froma vehicle of the primary transportation service to a vehicle of thesecondary transportation service has been or is likely to be missed, theroute may be reconfigured to select an alternative route and theappropriate parties are notified of such. The constraints may also betaken into account in selecting the reconfigured route. As one example,if the first segment of the transportation request is serviced by a carof the primary transportation service and the second segment of thetransportation request is serviced by a bus and a determination is madethat a bus has already driven past the pickup location of the secondsegment (or will drive past the pickup location of the second segmentbefore the car can arrive at the pickup location of the second segment),the driver of the car may be rerouted to a different bus stop for thatparticular bus (or another bus) at which a transfer can be made.

In various embodiments, if the conditions indicate that a more optimalroute is available, the route may be dynamically changed and theappropriate parties notified. For example, if a vehicle scheduled toservice the second segment of the route is detected as running late, analternate route that fits the constraints better may be determined andutilized. In various embodiments, the route may be dynamically changedin response to receiving a trigger based notification (e.g., that avehicle servicing a segment is late or has stopped running).

After the route has been serviced (or at the end of each individualsegment), the passenger may have the option of rating the route and/orthe individual segments of the route. Such ratings may be used bybackend server 302 to improve route suggestions in the future for theparticular passenger or for other passengers. The primary transportationservice via backend server 302 may also analyze statistics associatedwith the segments serviced by its drivers to improve its data associatedwith the secondary transportation services (e.g., backend server 302 maydetermine whether the predicted pickup time, drop-off time, or traveltime was accurate).

In various embodiments, backend server 302 may send informationassociated with a future segment (e.g., the next segment) of the routeto the passenger (e.g., via passenger application logic 218 of passengercomputing device 104). This information may be sent at any suitabletime, e.g., during the servicing of the current segment of the route.The information may include real-time information associated with thefuture segment. For example, if the current segment is being serviced bya secondary transportation service and the next segment is to beserviced by the primary transportation service, backend server 302 maysend the current location of the driver, instructions on where to go tomeet the driver (e.g., which part of a metro exit or an airport to walkto in order to meet the driver), identifying information about thedriver or driver's vehicle, or other suitable information to facilitatean easy transition from the current segment of the route to the nextsegment of the route.

In various embodiments, when the primary transportation service is toservice a next segment of the route, the backend server 302 monitors thecurrent location of the passenger (e.g., via GPS) and calculates anexpected time remaining until the passenger will arrive at thedestination location of the current segment (i.e., the transferlocation). The backend server 302 may also monitor the amount of timethat is required for one or more drivers within the vicinity of thetransfer location and notify one of the drivers to travel to thetransfer location. The time at which the backend server 302 sends thedriver to the transfer location may be based on the expected timeremaining for the passenger on the current segment as well as the timerequired for the driver to travel to the transfer station. Ideally, thebackend server 302 will select a time to notify the driver that willresult in the driver arriving simultaneously with (or slightly before)the passenger at the transfer location.

FIG. 4 illustrates a method 400 for generating travel routes to beserviced by a primary transportation service and a secondarytransportation service in accordance with certain embodiments. The stepsof FIG. 4 may be performed, for example, by a backend server 302 orpassenger computing device 104.

At 402, a pickup location and destination location are accessed. In someembodiments, these values may have been specified by a subscriber to aprimary transportation service in association with a transportationrequest to backend server 302 or may have been selected by backendserver 302 (e.g., based on device activity information).

At 404, it is determined whether the subscriber has explicitly specifiedone or more segments associated with a secondary transportation service.For example, the subscriber may specify, in association with atransportation request for travel from the pickup location to thedestination location, that the subscriber would like to ride aparticular transportation vehicle (e.g., a particular bus or train)associated with a secondary transportation service. If the subscriberhas explicitly specified one or more segments of the route, then at 406,one or more segments of the route are set based on the segment(s)specified by the subscriber.

At step 408, it is determined whether the subscriber has specified anyother absolute constraints. If so, routes that are not compliant withthe absolute constraints are filtered out (e.g., from a set ofprospective routes) at 410. At 412, it is determined whether prospectiveroutes remain. If no prospective routes remain, the subscriber isnotified and the method ends. The subscriber may then relax thespecified absolute constraints or select a different route that does notmeet the absolute constraints.

At step 416, one or more routes are generated based on optimizationconstraints. For example, the routes that remain after step 410 may beordered based on their compatibility with one or more optimizationconstraints selected by the subscriber or the primary transportationservice. A list of one or more of these ordered routes may be generatedfor viewing by the subscriber. The routes are presented to thesubscriber at 418. At 420, a selection of one of the routes is receivedfrom the subscriber.

At 422, the fulfillment of one or more segments of the route isfacilitated. For example, for each segment to be serviced by the primarytransportation service, backend server 302 may navigate a driver to pickup the subscriber at the pickup location for the segment and transportthe driver to the destination location for the segment. Concurrentlywith step 422, the backend server 424 may monitor any suitableconditions to determine whether a better route is available. If it isdetermined that a better route is not available, the backend server 302may wait a predetermined period of time and then check again for abetter route. If a better route exists, the route is updated at 426 andany affected drivers of the primary transportation service and thesubscriber are notified at step 428.

Some of the steps illustrated in FIG. 4 may be repeated, combined,modified or deleted where appropriate, and additional steps may also beincluded. Additionally, steps may be performed in any suitable order orconcurrently without departing from the scope of particular embodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates a method for improving suggestions of travel routesto be serviced by a primary transportation service and a secondarytransportation service in accordance with certain embodiments. The stepsof FIG. 5 may be performed, for example, by a backend server 302 orpassenger computing device 104.

At 502, historical transportation requests and/or device activity dataof a subscriber is accessed. This data may include any of the datamentioned above with respect to both of these items. At 504, a route issuggested to the subscriber based on the accessed information. Forexample, backend server 302 may analyze the information and determinethat the subscriber is likely to submit a transportation request andthat the user may benefit from dividing the route into segments servedby the primary transportation service and a secondary transportationservice. As another example, backend server 302 may receive atransportation request from the subscriber for a particular route andmay analyze the information to predict which route the subscriber willlike the best and include the route at the top of a list of possibleroutes for the transportation request.

At 506, a reply is received from the subscriber. The reply may rejectthe suggested routes, accept one of the suggested routes, or includeadditional route selection guidance (e.g., may add or delete one or moreconstraints) with a request to see additional routes. At 508,information from the reply from the subscriber is stored to be used infuture route suggestion to the particular subscribers (and optionally torefine suggestions made to other subscribers).

At 510, it is determined whether the subscriber submitted atransportation request. For example, the subscriber may have submitted atransportation request in his reply or may have opted not to submit atransportation request. At step 512, if a transportation request wassubmitted, service of one or more segments of the selected route isfacilitated. For example, backend server 302 may direct one or moredrivers to transport the subscriber in accordance with segments to beserviced by the primary transportation service.

Some of the steps illustrated in FIG. 5 may be repeated, combined,modified or deleted where appropriate, and additional steps may also beincluded. Additionally, steps may be performed in any suitable order orconcurrently without departing from the scope of particular embodiments.

It is also important to note that the steps in FIGS. 4-5 illustrate onlysome of the possible scenarios that may be executed by, or within, thevarious components of the system described herein. Some of these stepsmay be deleted or removed where appropriate, or these steps may bemodified or changed considerably without departing from the scope of thepresent disclosure. In addition, a number of these operations may havebeen described as being executed concurrently with, or in parallel to,one or more additional operations. However, the timing of theseoperations may be altered considerably. The preceding operational flowshave been offered for purposes of example and discussion.

The functionality described herein may also be performed by any suitablecomponent of the system. For example, certain functionality describedherein as being performed by backend server 116, may, in variousembodiments, be performed by any combination of one or more passengercomputing devices 104 or driver computing devices 108 where appropriate.Similarly, certain functionality described herein as being performed bya passenger computing device 104 or a driver computing device 108 may,in various embodiments, be performed by backend server 116 whereappropriate.

Numerous other changes, substitutions, variations, alterations, andmodifications may be ascertained to one skilled in the art and it isintended that the present disclosure encompass all such changes,substitutions, variations, alterations, and modifications as fallingwithin the scope of the appended claims. In order to assist the UnitedStates Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and, additionally, anyreaders of any patent issued on this application in interpreting theclaims appended hereto, Applicant wishes to note that the Applicant: (a)does not intend any of the appended claims to invoke paragraph six (6)of 35 U.S.C. section 112 as it exists on the date of the filing hereofunless the words “means for” or “step for” are specifically used in theparticular claims; and (b) does not intend, by any statement in thespecification, to limit this disclosure in any way that is not otherwisereflected in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: analyzing a plurality ofhistorical transportation requests from a subscriber to a firsttransportation service; identifying, by the first transportationservice, a first route from a pickup location to a destination location,the first route comprising a plurality of segments, at least one of thesegments being selected based on information obtained from analyzing theplurality of historical transportation requests, wherein a first segmentof the plurality of segments of the first route is to be serviced by adriver of the first transportation service using a first type oftransportation vehicle, and wherein a second segment of the plurality ofsegments of the first route is to be serviced by a second transportationservice using a second type of transportation vehicle; and directing thedriver of the first transportation service to service the first segmentof the plurality of segments of the first route.
 2. The method of claim1, wherein the analyzing the plurality of historical transportationrequests comprises determining that at least one pickup location ordestination location specified in one or more of the historicaltransportation requests is collocated with a terminal of the secondtransportation service.
 3. The method of claim 2, further comprisingaccessing a travel schedule associated with the terminal of the secondtransportation service in response to the determination that at leastone pickup location or destination location specified in one or more ofthe historical transportation requests is collocated with the terminalof the second transportation service.
 4. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising inferring a preference of the subscriber based on theanalysis of the plurality of historical transportation requests.
 5. Themethod of claim 4, wherein the preference is a preference to minimizecost of a route.
 6. The method of claim 4, wherein the preference is apreference to minimize travel time.
 7. The method of claim 4, whereinthe preference is a preference for the second type of transportationvehicle.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: during theservicing of the first segment of the plurality of segments of the firstroute, sending a message to a computing device of the subscribersuggesting the second segment.
 9. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising suggesting the first route to the subscriber based on theanalysis of the plurality of historical transportation requests andprior to a subscriber beginning a transportation request to the firsttransportation service.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the firsttype of transportation vehicle is a car and the second type oftransportation vehicle is a bus, train, airplane, or boat.
 11. Anapparatus comprising: a communication interface; and at least oneprocessor to: analyze a plurality of historical transportation requestsfrom a subscriber to a first transportation service; identify, by thefirst transportation service, a first route from a pickup location to adestination location, the first route comprising a plurality ofsegments, at least one of the segments being selected based oninformation obtained from analyzing the plurality of historicaltransportation requests, wherein a first segment of the plurality ofsegments of the first route is to be serviced by a driver of the firsttransportation service using a first type of transportation vehicle, andwherein a second segment of the plurality of segments of the first routeis to be serviced by a second transportation service using a second typeof transportation vehicle; and direct the driver of the firsttransportation service to service the first segment of the plurality ofsegments of the first route.
 12. The apparatus of claim 11, whereinanalyzing the plurality of historical transportation requests comprisesdetermining that at least one pickup location or destination locationspecified in one or more of the historical transportation requests iscollocated with a terminal of the second transportation service.
 13. Theapparatus of claim 12, wherein the at least one processor is further toaccess a travel schedule associated with the terminal of the secondtransportation service in response to the determination that at leastone pickup location or destination location specified in one or more ofthe historical transportation requests is collocated with the terminalof the second transportation service.
 14. The apparatus of claim 11,wherein the at least one processor is further to: during the servicingof the first segment of the plurality of segments of the first route,send a message to a computing device of the subscriber suggesting thesecond segment.
 15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the at least oneprocessor is further to suggest the first route to the subscriber basedon the analysis of the plurality of historical transportation requestsand prior to a subscriber beginning a transportation request to thefirst transportation service.
 16. At least one computer-readablenon-transitory media comprising one or more instructions that whenexecuted by at least one processor configure the at least one processorto cause the performance of operations comprising: analyzing a pluralityof historical transportation requests from a subscriber to a firsttransportation service; identifying, by the first transportationservice, a first route from a pickup location to a destination location,the first route comprising a plurality of segments, at least one of thesegments being selected based on information obtained from analyzing theplurality of historical transportation requests, wherein a first segmentof the plurality of segments of the first route is to be serviced by adriver of the first transportation service using a first type oftransportation vehicle, and wherein a second segment of the plurality ofsegments of the first route is to be serviced by a second transportationservice using a second type of transportation vehicle; and directing thedriver of the first transportation service to service the first segmentof the plurality of segments of the first route.
 17. The media of claim16, wherein analyzing the plurality of historical transportationrequests comprises determining that at least one pickup location ordestination location specified in one or more of the historicaltransportation requests is collocated with a terminal of the secondtransportation service.
 18. The media of claim 17, wherein theinstructions are further to cause the performance of: accessing a travelschedule associated with the terminal of the second transportationservice in response to the determination that at least one pickuplocation or destination location specified in one or more of thehistorical transportation requests is collocated with the terminal ofthe second transportation service.
 19. The media of claim 16, whereinthe instructions are further to cause the performance of: during theservicing of the first segment of the plurality of segments of the firstroute, send a message to a computing device of the subscriber suggestingthe second segment.
 20. The media of claim 16, wherein the instructionsare further to cause the performance of: suggesting the first route tothe subscriber based on the analysis of the plurality of historicaltransportation requests and prior to a subscriber beginning atransportation request to the first transportation service.